The young Saints girls basketball team had two losses that pretty much covers the range of how a team can lose basketball games.

At home against, a Waseca team which was short a couple of starters due to illness the Saints played flat, shot poorly, scored only ten points in the first half and got rolled over 53-25.

The girls went on the road Tuesday night, played a very good Martin County West team (13-2 at the time) and lost 62-61.

MCW 62, SJA 61

The Saints hit the road on Tuesday night and played one of their best games of the year. It was a 62-61 loss to MCW, but MCW was a team that was 13-1 going into the game compared to the SJA girls record of 1-11.

On any given night one team can beat another, and that almost happened to the Saints against the Mavericks.

Freshman Julia Beckius once again led the Saints in scoring with 20 points.

Emily Hurley added 16 points and Allison Brandts had 13 points.

Hurley has been a force under the boards this year and on Tuesday she had 16 rebounds - five of them offensive. As a team, the Saints had 36 rebounds.

The Saints shot better from the floor, hitting on nearly 34 percent of their field goal attempts. They were 25 of 74.

The Saints could have won the game by making a couple more free throws. SJA had 21 attempts, but only made eight, which is only a 38 percent rate.

Commenting after the game Head Coach Adam Schroeder compared this effort to earlier team efforts, “Well, tonight went better. Other than losing. It was a close game throughout other than us suffering a ten point deficit in the second half.

“We had 15 turnovers in the first half but controlled the ball in the second half only giving up four. We also forced a few turnovers which helped as well.

“I was very pleased with our effort over all tonight. We had a chance to win with seven seconds but failed to get a quality shot off. We hope to play well again Thursday against New Ulm.

The Saints beat New Ulm at home before Christmas 57-55. It is the Saints only win of the season.

Waseca 53, SJA 25

The Saints hosted the Waseca Bluejays in a conference game last Friday and fell by a score of 53 to 25.

One of the consistencies of a young team can be its inconsistency. While the girls have had stretches of good shooting, Friday night was not one of them.

For the game, the Saints shot 18.5 percent from the field. They shot 25 percent from the free throw line.

Head Coach Adam Schroeder said, “We really didn't shoot well. Four of our ten shots made were in the paint. We were 10 of 54. We just need to shoot better.”

Waseca pressured the Saints and the young SJA ballhandlers turned the ball over 21 times. The Saints will continue to see pressure defense until they demonstrate they can beat the press.

The Saints only had ten points at the half and trailed Waseca 22-10 at halftime. The Bluejays outscored the Saints 31 to 15 in the second half.

No players were in double figures. Julia Beckius and Emily Hurley led the way with eight points. Hurley was the top rebounder with 11. The team had no assists.

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